Dead Waters

by Anton Strout

  I left Connor fussing with the winch and headed to the cabin after her. I hit the engine and the boat chugged to life. I eased it up to speed, not wanting to tax the poor boat too much, not with the way the budget stacked up against us. I feared that if anything broke or needed repairs, it might have to come out of my own pocket at this point.

  I worked the boat back and forth across the area underneath the bridge, the steady sound of the engine and roll of the boat luring me into a very sleepy state. Only when the boat jerked to a halt and the two of us fell to the floor of the cabin did I snap to.

  I scrabbled to get back on my feet, but it was difficult to do with my flailing girlfriend trying to do the same. The boat tossing back and forth only added to the chaos in the wheelhouse.

  “Kill the engine, kid!” Connor shouted from somewhere at the back of the boat.

  I finally managed to get to my feet, reaching for the support of the cabin wall, but the boat lurched once more, throwing me against the opposite wall, pressing me up against the back window.

  Through it I watched as Connor wrapped himself around the cable using his whole body, but his weight wasn’t enough to shake the line free. It pulled against the power of the boat, the back of it sinking down from the calamitous physics of it all. I pressed away from the window, but until the boat reversed pitch, I wouldn’t be able to move.

  “Jane!” I shouted, but she was already working on stopping the boat. She was down on the floor once again, but she didn’t need to stand to use her powers. She slammed her hand against the base of the control console and whispered her strange electronic voice to it, her technomancy killing the whining engine. The boat fell silent and settled, allowing Jane and me to get to our feet. We walked out onto the back of the boat where Connor held on to the nowslack cable.

  “Well, we found something,” he said.

  Jane walked over and flicked at the loose cable in his hand, watching it wobble. “Did we lose it?” she asked.

  Connor tugged on the cable, pulling against the slack. The line went taut in his hand. “No, I think we still got it,” he said. “ I’m pretty sure we freed it up. Whatever it is.”

  Connor threw the lever back on the winch, but nothing happened. The power was still off. Connor looked over to Jane. “If you wouldn’t mind . . .”

  “Sorry,” Jane said, and touched her hand to the mechanism. Sparks flew from where the flesh of her fingers pressed against it. At her techno-whisper, the winch creaked to life once more, this time at a slow, labored crawl. No one wanted a repeat of what had just happened with almost capsizing the boat.

  Connor tested the line. It was coiling up onto the reel, tension still on it.

  “Whatever it is,” he said, “it’s heavy.”

  I looked at him, hopeful. “You think we’re pulling up a whole boat?”

  “Doubtful, kid,” he said. “It’s probably just caked in weeds and river bottom. . . maybe some old, dead gangsters in cement shoes, even. All of that is making the going tough.”

  I watched the surface of the water in fascination, waiting for our catch to unveil itself. Pockets of air rose to the surface and bubbles filled the water, increasing until the water was white with foam all along the back of the boat.

  Moments later, a solid rectangular shape broke the surface, roughly the size of a man.

  “A door,” I said, not all that enthused with our find.

  “Hey, a door is a part of a boat,” Connor said.

  I shrugged. “Just not a particularly exciting part.”

  Connor looked at me and shook his head. “At least it’s something you can hopefully get a read on. Help me haul it in.”

  The two of us leaned over and began wrestling with the cable as we struggled to get a grip on the bobbing door. It was harder than I thought with the boat rising up and down as well. The door, as Connor had suggested, was covered with enough river bottom slime that I couldn’t get a good grip on it. I was about to start swearing when Jane spoke up.

  “Hey, guys. . .” she said.

  “Hold on,” I said, fighting for my grip on the cable itself as I leaned out over the water. “Trying not to go swimming here.”

  “I’ve got some swimmers for you,” she said. “We’ve got company on the railings.”

  The mention of company got our interest, and the two of us forgot about the cable and door as I pulled myself back onto the boat and turned. At first I didn’t notice anything, but then I saw them. Rotting, waterlogged fingers were grabbing for purchase along the edge of the boat in several spots on both sides.

  Connor noticed them as well. “What the hell. . . ?” he said, and ran over to the right side of the ship.

  I joined him, stopping short of the railing. I craned my neck out a little farther, looking over the side. The ancient, bloated remains of a human were recognizable as one of them pulled himself out of the river, the water soaked into it like a sponge instead of rolling off it.

  “The door. . .” Connor started, but couldn’t finish as he stepped back and got into a fists-raised fighting stance.

  “When God closes a window, he opens up a door,” I said, pulling my bat from its holster and hitting the button to extend it, “a door from the bottom of the river that releases aqua-zombies, apparently.”

  The rotting creatures were coming up on all sides of us now. Connor shoved at the one nearest him, and thankfully he was still wearing the work glove he had been using on the cables. His left hand sank into the creature’s chest, but the force was enough to send it toppling overboard, but not before it sucked the glove clean off. Connor snatched his hand away from the next creature and stepped back.

  “What’s grosser than gross?” he asked. “Now I know.”

  The squelching sound of the glove pulling off was still fresh in my ears and I did my best to keep from vomiting from the ick factor of it all. I turned to Jane. Nothing had come up on her side, but I could see the movement of more hands clawing for purchase along the side of the boat. It was only a matter of time before they came up.

  “Jane!” I shouted. “Go to the front of the boat!”

  “I can help,” she insisted.

  “I know you can,” I said, “but this isn’t me being chivalrous. We’ve got enough baddies for all of us to fight. Just check and see if we’re okay up there.”

  “On it,” she said. Jane kicked into motion and dashed off toward the thin walkway that led around the wheelhouse to the bow of the ship.

  Connor grabbed up his trench coat, balling it around both of his hands. “I’m gonna miss this one,” he said. “A good trench is hard to find.”

  “Maybe it’s time to trade up to a better coat,” I said. The two of us moved to the center of the deck back there, positioning ourselves back to back.

  “Yeah, right, kid,” he said. “Soon as you give up the leather.”

  “It works like armor,” I said. “Not like that dangly death trap you wear.”

  Connor dodged out of the way of one of the creatures. “I prefer mobility,” he said. “Jesus. There’re a lot coming up on my side of the boat.”

  “Mine, too,” I said.

  “Screw it,” Connor said, stepping away from my back. I heard a meaty crack behind me followed by a splash. “We don’t have to fight ’em if we just knock ’em off, kid.”

  I went to move, then stopped as a horrifying thought hit me.

  “Wait a second,” I said. “Did I just send Jane up to the front of the boat. . . alone?”

  “Yes,” Connor said. “Yes, you did. Now go!”

  “Right,” I said. I pulled out my bat and ran for the front. I stepped with care around the slim walkway to the left of the cabin. The head of one of the creatures came up over the side and I flashed my foot out at it, catching it square in the center of its face. The tip of my Doc Martens sank into the flesh like I was kicking a Nerf football, the sound of snapping bone cracking out from it. The body let go of the railing, but didn’t fall now that my foot was holding it up by it
s face. I shook my leg, fighting down the urge to vomit, before the creature came free and fell back into the water.

  The other aqua-zombies were still working their way up the sides, but they were no danger. . . yet. I pulled myself forward along the outside of the cabin, pausing only to grab a four-foot-long gaffing hook. I continued on, making sure my grip was secure on both that and my bat, and then jumping down onto the bow of the boat. I landed on both feet, dual wielding and ready for a fight. Jane was surrounded by a ring of rotting aquatic humanoids as she fell to her knees on the deck, her hands clawing at the back of her shoulder about where the mark was.

  “Jane!” I shouted.

  She looked up, her face straining as she struggled against whatever the mark was doing to her. Without pausing, I grabbed the long shaft of the hooked pole arm and tossed it to her. It clattered to the now-slime-covered deck and Jane wrapped both hands around it, using it to help her stand before menacing the creatures around her with it. Now that she was armed, I didn’t hesitate. I leapt into action, slamming my bat into the closest creature. The tip of it caught up in its guts, but it crumbled the monstrosity over, leaving me struggling to regain control of my bat. When I pulled it free, I moved on to my next target, but I noticed something strange out of the corner of my eye. Jane wasn’t moving. She was just standing there, stock-still, clutching the pole in both her hands like she was waiting to swing on a trapeze.

  “Jane?” I shouted. “Anytime you want to join the fray, you just leap on in there . . .”

  Jane still didn’t move. “I. . . I can’t,” she stuttered out.

  “What?” I said, feeling a little panic set in. Without her help, I was going to be hard-pressed to fight off all the aqua-zombies by myself.

  “I want to help you, but I can’t,” she said, almost crying. “I think. . .I think it’s the mark.”

  “Son of a bitch,” I shouted. I cracked the next monstrosity in the head and pushed it overboard using the heel of my boot. Adrenaline kicked in and I felt a bit of a rush while I moved on to struggle against two more of the creatures. I only hoped that when I was done I wouldn’t have to turn my bat on Jane as well.

  “Fight it, hon,” I shouted. “You’re stronger than her. Are you going to let that aquatic she-bitch run the show here?”

  Jane raised the gaffing pole over her head with a concerted effort, but with each inch she lifted, her face squinted with pain. After a few seconds of holding it up, she collapsed back down to her knees, dropping the pole. “I can’t,” she whimpered.

  Connor shouted from somewhere close behind me, startling me. “Is she okay, kid?”

  I turned. He had made his way to the top of the cabin, taking the higher ground in the fight and using it to his advantage in undead crowd control.

  I dodged one of the swiping zombies while hitting another with my bat, squishing the flesh. I looked over at Jane again. She was still paralyzed in place. “You know what?” I called up to Connor. “I have no idea. She’s powerless.”

  Connor looked down at me. “Well, help her, then.”

  “I’m trying,” I said, wiggling my way out of one of the zombies’ grip. “There’s too many of them.”

  “That I can help with,” Connor said and jumped down from atop the cabin. The deck shook from the impact of his landing but Connor kept his momentum and plowed himself into a whole row of the creatures on my right. Half of them spilled over the side of the boat, all of them clawing nothing but air as they tried to stop themselves.

  “That worked,” I said, tossing one of my remaining foes overboard. “Thanks.”

  “Don’t thank me yet,” he said. “All I’ve done is prolong the inevitable. I’ve bought us a little time.”

  “Right,” I said and spun to help out Jane.

  By the looks of her, she didn’t need my help. Jane had made it back up to her feet once more and was surrounded by a ring of the creepy creatures. The odd thing was that the rotting monstrosities—outside of their simply being there—were all facing Connor and me, none of them even remotely interested in attacking my girlfriend. Jane wasn’t in need of protection; the damned things were protecting her.

  “Jane?” I asked. Her eyes were fixed in our general direction but they were unfocused. There was nobody driving the car, or if there was, Jane wasn’t in the driver’s seat.

  “Steady,” Connor said, resting a hand on my shoulder. “What’s up with her new entourage?”

  “I was hoping you might be able to tell me.”

  “I’m not sure,” he said, looking for a weakness in the ring of them, “but I think we better make the first move before—”

  Jane interrupted him, speaking out loud in a language I wasn’t familiar with. “That’s not her machine language,” I said.

  “No,” Connor said. “It’s not. It’s Greek. She’s ordering her undead bodyguards to attack.”

  “What?!” I swung my bat at the two zombies closest to her before they could even begin to move. “Oh, hell, no.”

  I grabbed Jane by the arm and yanked her from within their circle. Her face was still blank, but her body stumbled along willingly as I moved her toward the back of the boat.

  “Not a good time to be zoning out, Janey,” I said, but she remained unresponsive. I put my arm around her and guided her along the side of the cabin. Other zombies were crawling up the sides of the ship still, but paused when I moved Jane past them. “Guess there’s one bright side to this.”

  I stepped onto the back deck first as we rounded the stern of the boat. The back was swarming with aqua-zombies, all of them keeping well away from the two of us. I lowered Jane to the deck and pressed against the wall of the wheelhouse until I got to the door and slid us both inside. I shut the door behind us and turned my attention to Jane.

  Nothing had changed on her face in the past few minutes. There was no sense of recognition in her eyes, just a strange curiosity in them as she watched me. She spoke again, but none of it made a lick of sense to me. I grabbed her by the sides of her head and got right up in her face.

  “Snap out of it, Janey,” I said. “Come back to me.”

  A dark snarl rose up behind her lips, but I didn’t look away.

  “I know you’re in there, sea witch,” I said, not turning away, “but this woman is mine. If anyone gets her, it’s me, got it?”

  Jane fought to push me away, but I wasn’t letting go.

  “If you can hear me in there, Jane, don’t give in to her,” I said. “You’re better than her.”

  A guttural growl rose up from Jane’s chest. I wasn’t sure if it was because the woman was winning or Jane was fighting her, but I let go of her face and grabbed hold of her hands. The strength in her grip was both astounding and crushing.

  The door to the cabin flew open behind me and the aqua-zombies started to pour in. I let go of Jane and went to spin around, but I was too slow, unprepared. One of the creatures got its decaying hands on my arm and squeezed. They, too, had more strength to them than I had imagined. The crushing pain to my arm overwhelmed me and I screamed out. My bat clattered to the floor of the cabin.

  Jane’s eyes fluttered. “Simon. . . ?”

  “Jane,” I said. “Help me. Fight it. Fight that woman’s power.”

  Jane’s face returned to normal, which at the moment meant it was a mix of pain and confusion. She seemed to be disoriented and struggling, her arms shaking at her sides. I was so intent on trying to regain any sort of connection with her that it took me a moment to realize I was being dragged out the cabin door by the hands of the undead. “No!” I shouted, and Jane snapped to.

  Jane eyed my situation, and then slapped one of her hands on the boat’s control panel. The glow of raw energy being siphoned from the ship ran up her arm as she spoke to it until the power ran into her and she channeled it down her other arm. Raw energy burst forth from her hand as it shot past me and struck the zombies holding me. The jolt of electricity sent a lesser tingle of sensation into my body as well, but I pulle
d myself free of the mess as I started to smell the wretched burn of decaying flesh.

  I fell to my knees to retrieve my bat, landing hard on my satchel and worse, digging the metal corner of the Ghostbusters lunch box inside right into my lower ribs, stinging them. Once I was down, I decided to stay there for a few moments. The idea of standing back up and catching a blast from the Jedi power battle overhead had zero appeal to me, especially with the new pain in my side. I lay there, recovering, as Jane plunged her power into zombie after zombie with what amounted to a chain of lightning that ran from one zombie to the next. The stench was awful, but the foes all along the back side of the boat blew apart like they were eggs in the microwave.

  As the deck cleared, Jane’s power began to falter until she stopped and collapsed on top of the control console in exhaustion. I got up off the floor to check on her. As I stood, I could see out the front of the control room once again. The bow of the boat was still covered in a monstrous swarm, and at the center of it all was Connor, fighting away. He was holding his own against the waterlogged, rotting army, but I wondered for how long. I turned away and put my hand on Jane’s shoulder.

  “You okay?” I asked.

  Her eyes were closed and her breath was coming in short rasps, but she nodded. “Just exhausted,” she said.

  “Can you drive?”

  She pushed herself up off the panel and looked at the wheel and the rest of the controls. “I’ve never driven a boat before.”

  “It’s simple,” I said. “The trick is to try and not hit any land. But you know what? In this case, I think what we need is to get the hell off the water. Aim for Wards Island, up on our left.”

  Jane looked nervous, but I needed to get moving if I was going to help Connor. While Jane fired up the boat and started her run at the island, I ran out of the cabin, doing my best to not slip in the slimy coating of zombie guts as I made my way back to the front of the boat. Connor had worked his way into a defensible position up against the very tip of the bow—a smart choice. The zombies could only come at him one by one due to the narrow confines of the space, but even with that advantage, more were struggling to climb up over the railing behind him.